News and workshops

Wednesday workshops

We run workshops every Wednesday afternoon, from 2 to 3pm. Here is the Summer Term 2013 timetable.

QTS numeracy skills test

1. The following book is recommended:

PASSING THE NUMERACY SKILLS TEST

by MARK PATMORE

(Fifth Edition, 2012)

This book is available on Amazon etc.

(Earlier editions do not have practice tests, and are therefore not as useful.)

2. Drop-in maths support is available at the Maths Support Centre, which is on the 1st floor of the main library, Whiteknights; see elsewhere on this website for opening times.

3. Click here for "Teachers Talk: The online Teaching Community", with links to practice tests for the QTS Numeracy test.

4. These worksheets contain typical QTS test questions:

Practice Questions 1 QTS Numeracy skills test
Practice Questions for QTS mental arithmetic ... percentages (1)
Practice Questions for QTS mental arithmetic ... percentages (2)
Practice Questions for QTS Numeracy skills test ... miscellaneous (1)

5. Access to some on-line practice papers can be purchased (from a company called 'Numeracy Ready Ltd'). They charge £19.99 for 3 months' access.

Visit www.numeracyready.co.uk for further details.

NOTE: This advertisement appears here at the request of Numeracy Ready Ltd.

Calculator

Printable worksheets

For a very large selection of worksheets, please visit the Maths Support Centre's Blackboard site.

(Drop in to see us, or send an email, if you are not already enrolled on our Blackboard site.)

Maths lessons on video

For a wide range of short videos, visit www.mathtutor.ac.uk

For more videos, visit www.khanacademy.org and choose the subject you want.

Maths leaflets

For a wide range of printable leaflets, visit www.mathcentre.ac.uk and select the topic you want.

Interactive help with . . . algebra

To practice solving linear equations, visit http://www.waldomaths.com/Equation2NL.jsp

Help with . . . partial differentiation

For help with understanding partial differentiation, there is a good
explanation in the textbook 'Foundation Maths', by Anthony Croft and Robert Davison. There are many copies of this book in the main library, Whiteknights; you'll find them on the second floor, with shelf-mark 510-CRO.

There are also some video tutorials on partial differentiation on the
website www.khanacademy.org (no username or password needed). Scroll down to the section on 'Calculus' (it's in the third of the four columns), and then scroll down further until you reach the topics 'Partial derivatives' and 'Partial derivatives 2'.

Help with . . . psychometric tests

Applicants to many companies are now required to take numerical psychometric tests. We hold workshops which give you practice in answering typical test questions (please bring a calculator).

No need to book - just turn up

The dates of the Psychometric Test workshops to be held in 2013/14 will be available here before the start of term.

For practice test papers, visit the Maths Support Centre on the 1st floor of the main Whiteknights library.

For more test papers, visit this list of Numerical Psychometric Tests

Help with . . . Statistics and Probability

1) For help with statistics and probability questions, please come to the Maths Support Centre desk, where we can advise you on the best way to get the help you need. Alternatively, send an email to mathssupport@reading.ac.uk, describing the topic/s you need help with.

Depending on what the topic is that you need help with, we will either:

help you straight away; or

offer you an appointment to see our specialist statistics tutor: appointments are available on Wednesdays during term time from 2 to 4pm.

2) For on-line help with a wide selection of statistics topics, visit statstutor

3) For statistics books in the University library, visit this Statistics Booklist

4) For help with SPSS or MINITAB, both short courses and online tutorials are available (as well as support classes that are organised by individual lecturers for some modules), as follows:

For SPSS and MINITAB short courses, visit the IT services timetable by topic page .

For online tutorials, visit the Statistics Packages Tutorials.

5) If you need help with statistics or analysing data relating to a postgraduate degree (PhD, MSc, MA etc) please consult the Statistical Advisory Service

6) For a very large collection of video tutorials on probability and statistical topics, visit www.khanacademy.org and scroll down to the sections on 'Probability' and 'Statistics'.

These topics are included:

Laws of probability

Permutations and combinations

Probability density functions

Binomial probability

Poisson probability

Standard deviation and variance

Expectation

Normal distribution

'How to solve it'

The famous book 'How to solve it' by George Polya (1887-1985) contains many useful hints and tips for solving mathematical problems. First published in 1945, the book has been reprinted many times since, and is currently available as a Penguin paperback. It can be found in the University library, shelfmark 510.76-POL.

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